The children
of Israel had been in captivity in Babylon and now generations later they were
being allowed to go back to Israel…back to Jerusalem…back to the Temple. But like
most of Jerusalem, the Temple had been destroyed, so they had to rebuild it. The
Israelites observed the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, that was the Feast of
the Passover—as sacred holiday meaning that they were not to work on the first,
second, seventh or eighth day of this Feast. In Exodus 12:15 the Jews were
commanded not to work those days.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on
the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats
anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall
be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and
another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them,
except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you. You
shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I
brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this
day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. Exodus 12:15-17
As our text
from Ezra tells us the Lord changed the heart of the king of Assyria so that he
actually encouraged the Jews to rebuild the Temple—the House of the God of
Israel. As they were observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread they were probably
rejoicing to be back in Israel, back to rebuild their Temple and their lives.
How encouraging! Reunited with their homeland and their God.
Training Tip – Read to your family from a story Bible or summarize
the saga of the captivity of the Israelites. Remember that they were sent into
captivity because they didn’t obey God’s rules. Keeping rules is important. Now
continue the story with the Israelites being sent home from Babylon and
rebuilding their Temple. It might be fun for your family to act out parts of
the story. Someone can be the king of Assyria and encourage the Israelites to
go back to Israel and rebuild the Temple. There should be lots of rejoicing
when he makes that announcement.
Lord – We rejoice with You that the Israelites got
to go back to their Promised Land—and to rebuild the Temple for You. In our own
lives help us to rebuild relationships and share Your love with others.
All
scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise
noted.
© 2013 by Mickey
M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
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